Book

Williams, Kate, 1974- author.

Ambition and desire : the dangerous life of Josephine Bonaparte / Kate Williams.

First edition.

New York : Ballantine Books, 2015.

viii, 384 pages, 16 pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm

From CNN's official royal historian, a highly praised young author with a doctorate from Oxford University, comes the extraordinary rags-to-riches story of the woman who conquered Napoleon's heart -- and with it, an empire.

Josephine, Empress, consort of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1763-1814.

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Marriage.

Empresses -- France -- Biography.

Originally published under the title Josephine: desire, ambition, Napoleon in the United Kingdom by Hutchinson, a member of The Random House Group Limited, London, in 2013.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [355]-365) and index.

Prologue -- La Pagerie -- Sophistication -- "Beneath all the sluts in the world" -- Revolution -- "The height of good manners to be ruined" -- "What strange power you have over my heart" -- "The single object in my heart" -- A million kisses -- "I am so distressed at being separated from him" -- "All I have suffered" -- "He owes me everything" -- "The most beautiful thing in the world" -- Scenes with Bonaparte -- "My stepfather Is a comet" -- "Your imperial majesty" -- "The king of diamonds" -- "I have fulfilled my destiny" -- "I wish you would be more reasonable" -- "Cold and often embarrassed" -- "Like a wounded soldier" -- "More full of charm" -- Epilogue.

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BIO Josephin